Hosting companies will be required to identify clients by passport or “Government Services”

The Ministry of Digital Development has developed a draft resolution that defines the rules by which hosting providers will have to establish the identity of their clients. They will have such an obligation from December 1, 2023. Draft document published on regulation.gov.ruimplies four ways in which identification can be carried out: through the infrastructure of the State Services and the Unified Biometric System, through the use of an enhanced qualified electronic signature (ECES), through a transfer from a bank account in Russia or other EAEU countries, as well as by providing documents in person.

Individuals using hosting and wishing to identify themselves personally will have to provide a passport or other identification document, individual entrepreneurs – a passport and an extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, and representatives of legal entities – an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and a document confirming their authority to enter into an agreement with the hoster.

Regulation of hosting providers in Russia is being tightened according to amendments to the federal laws “On Communications” and “On Information” signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 31. They provide for Roskomnadzor to maintain a register of hosters, and also oblige the latter to interact with law enforcement agencies. The same amendments will prohibit sites operating in Russia from registering users without using an email or phone number from a Russian company.

About the pressure of Russian regulators on foreign hosting companies – in the Kommersant publication “Roskomnadzor has counted to twelve”.

Yuri Litvinenko